


Growing Up

by Orange_Coyote



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Teenagers, Destiel - Freeform, Drinking & Talking, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Mary Lives, POV Dean Winchester, Short & Sweet, Underage Drinking, just that age range, sam and kevin and gabriel are only mentioned, they're not actually inside school during this fic though, thinking of turning this into a multi chap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-09
Updated: 2016-09-09
Packaged: 2018-08-13 07:36:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7968091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Orange_Coyote/pseuds/Orange_Coyote
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>inspired by the lyric</p>
<p>I flashback to the night in your parent's yard,<br/>when we drank too much and we talked about God</p>
            </blockquote>





	Growing Up

**Author's Note:**

> the title of the fic is also the title of the song I was inspired by (it felt fitting)  
> texts are in italics

Dean waved goodbye from the stoop as the car holding his brother squealed off into the night. He really needed to convince Mrs. Tran to let him take a look at that death trap. Once the red tail lights completely left his field of vision, he re-entered his now empty home, flinging himself onto the tattered paisley couch with a sigh. He considered flipping through the whopping seven channels available on the TV set but figured nothing worth watching would be on anyway.

Rising to his feet, Dean trudged into the kitchen intent on putting together some kind of grub. Family dinner had happened an hour ago, but his grumbling stomach had other ideas. He was a growing boy, sue him. According to his mom he ate the amount expected of a sixteen year old. She would know, seeing as she was a nurse. Plus mother knows best. Take that, Sam.

When he opened the fridge he was greeted by the sorry sight of half a head of iceberg lettuce, a half empty bottle of yellow mustard, and three lonely eggs. A six pack of his father's preferred beer sat temptingly untouched on the bottom shelf. He had just reached out to take one, consequences be damned, when his phone chimed in his jeans pocket.

Shrugging, Dean grabbed the bottle before closing the refrigerator door and pulling his phone out of his pocket. He mentally ran a list of possible suspects as he maneuvered his way back to the living room, keeping his focus primarily on not accidentally bumping or tripping and spilling his drink.

He doubted it was Sam already; Charlie was out with her girlfriend for the night; and Benny and Jo were living it up at some country music concert in the next town over. Which left only one name.

Cas.

His suspicions were proved right as he finally unlocked the screen.

_'Dean. Want to come over? I've been thinking too much on my own and some company would be nice.'_

What the hell was that supposed to mean? Not the come over part. He had been to Cas' place plenty of times. The other part.

_'You okay Cas?'_

_'I am both physically and mentally intact.'_

Dean rolled his eyes. Damn Cas and his tendency to take everything literally. The clock in the upper corner of his phone screen proclaimed the time to be just after ten o'clock. Technically speaking, he wasn't supposed to leave the house. But... Sam would be gone until morning since he was spending the night at Kevin's, his mom was out tending to one of her elderly patients, and his dad didn't plan on being home for another two days. Something about his truck breaking down in some tiny town off the beaten path. Uh-huh. Sure.

Point being: he was free and clear to take a little field trip to Cas' place a block over.

Decision made, he sent a reply. ' _Yeah. I'll be there.'_

_'Thank you, Dean. I look forward to your presence.'_

_'Okay nerd. See you soon.'_

Dean made sure to grab his wallet and keys before moving to lock up. At the last moment he decided to take the last five beers with him. Cas sounded like he could use a breather.

The walk passed by in a matter of minutes, the balmy air leaving his exposed arms sticky with sweat. No cars stood in the driveway, so Dean assumed Cas was in a similar position to himself: bored and alone. He almost knocked but hesitated, resolving instead to alert Cas of his arrival via text and go from there.

_'Cas I'm here.'_

_'in the back'_  was the instantaneous reply.

_'Okay??'_

_'gate is open come on'_

Dean warily followed his friend's instructions, keeping to the footpath of garden stones that wound through a pristine green lawn around the side of the house, ending abruptly at a tall wooden fence. The gate was open, as promised, propped ajar with a large rock. Dean picked it up on his way in, closing the gate securely behind himself.

He skimmed the width of the yard for any indication of Cas, finally spotting a darker lump of shadow occupying one of the lawn chairs near the back door. Said lump shifted slightly as Dean approached.

"Did I wake you?" Dean asked as he settled into the lawn chair beside Cas, half teasing and half truly concerned. Cas' gaze looked dazed, his usual perfect posture slouched mercilessly against the back of the chair.

"No," the other boy whispered. "I was already awake."

Dean lowered his voice to match as he asked, "Why are you whispering?"

Cas shrugged one shoulder lazily. "Don't want to disturb the night."

In that moment an impossible idea dawned on Dean. "Cas... are you _drunk_ right now?"

"I have imbibed alcohol, yes," Cas answered in that deep timbre of his. "I am yet to become as drunk as you believe, however."

"Where did you even get booze?" Cas' parents were of the "Harry Potter is black magic satan worship propaganda and should be burned" variety, so the thought of any alcohol in the house was completely far-fetched. Or so Dean had thought.

"Gabriel's closet." The _of course_  being implied.

"Right." Dean glanced between the five beers sitting at his feet and Cas' face twice before muttering "fuck it" and swiping the half empty bottle of cotton candy flavored vodka from Cas' grip, taking a decent swig for himself before Cas had a chance to protest. "Looks like I have some catching up to do," he added unnecessarily.

Eventually Cas went inside and returned with two glasses, a bottle of expensive looking red wine, and a fifth of cheap bourbon. They proceeded to get ridiculously tipsy in record time, the mixture of various alcoholic beverages sloshing in their stomachs.

Dean knew he'd be in for a hell of a hangover in the morning, but laying outside with Cas, looking up at the stars and discussing anything that came to mind, was totally worth it.

They talked about cars and bees, sports teams and upcoming bar trivia nights, rain forests and waterfalls and deserts. Cas described his dream home -- a cabin beside a lake surrounded by trees -- and Dean confessed his love of bad pop music -- hardly a revelation for Cas after years of friendship.

Slowly the sloshing in his stomach subsided into a pleasant buzz from his fingertips to his toes, lulling him into a state of near sleep. Dean hadn't even realized his eyes had drifted shut until Cas murmured his name.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think God is up there somewhere, watching over us like a herd of pets within a giant hamster cage?"

"Uh." How should he respond to that? "I dunno, Cas. You're more of an expert than me."

"I like to believe a Higher Power exists," Castiel continued, almost as if Dean hadn't spoken at all. "A Being that loves Their creations unconditionally, One that is forgiving as They are exacting. One that understands no person is perfect and doesn't expect perfection in the first place. I think God is there, Dean, and I think They are watching over us."

"I'm sure you're right, Cas." He took a drink from the bottle he held -- unsure at this point if it was beer or bourbon -- before revealing a belief of his own.

"Growing up." A pause while Dean cleared his throat. "Growing up, my mom used to tuck me and Sammy into bed every night after one of her awesome bedtime stories, right? And she'd kiss each of our foreheads and wish us sweet dreams. And Sam would be out like a light every time.

"But me, I was always a light sleeper. Of course Mom knew that. She would see the nightmare lingering in my eyes some nights before I even went to sleep. And she would say to me, 'Your guardian angel is watching over you.'" Dean released a long breath as the memories hit him full force. "I didn't really understand it but the words always soothed me, kept the nightmares at bay somehow."

Dean cut his gaze to gauge Cas' reaction. The other boy looked mesmerized. Dean smiled softly, thinking about his naive and innocent youthful self. The days when a bullshit phrase could calm him. Or maybe it was more the look in his mother's eyes as she spoke the words that spoke to his soul. Maybe she had been his guardian angel all along.

"That's beautiful, Dean."

"Yeah. Not that it did me much good. I must have had a shitty guardian angel." He didn't have to say it explicitly for Cas to get that knowing, sympathetic look in his eyes. Cas had been there in those darker times. When Dean felt useless and worthless and tainted and wanted to just disappear. Cas had been his anchor then. His lifeline ever since. Almost like a guardian angel in his own right.

Huh. Well.

Like he could read his mind, Cas chose that exact moment to say, "I'll always watch over you, Dean."

And, without a shred of doubt, Dean believed him.


End file.
